Victor Purnell Jones (born October 19, 1966) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

and was drafted in the twelfth round of the 1988 NFL Draft. In 1994, Jones received the

Ed Block Courage Award The Ed Block Courage Award is an annual award presented to a player from each team in the National Football League (NFL) who are voted for by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage. Named in memory of Ed Block, a ...

and made the list of Hokies in the Pro under the category of special teams.

College career

Jones was coached by Mike Archer. In the 1986 Peach Bowl, Jones recovered a fumble at the Virginia Tech 41 to help secure the win against NC State Wolfpack. The game was the final contest of the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 25–24 victory for Virginia Tech, the first bowl victory in school history.

Professional career

NFL Stats

Personal life

Jones grew up in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

. He currently lives in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. He has been an active member of the NFL Retired Players Association, Charlotte Chapter since 2000. After leaving the NFL, Jones was a pharmaceutical account executive for Sanofi-Aventis from 1996 to 2001. In 2006, Jones and his wife Detra started a franchise called Girls Just Wanna Have Fun at Spa’ Ladi-da! for tweens. From 2001 to 2009 Jones owned SCW Residential Care, a retirement community. From 2011 to 2013 Jones was an owner of 212 Sports Network. In 2013 Jones became a

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...

insurance agent. In 2017 he moved to Maryland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Victor 1966 births Living people American football linebackers Virginia Tech Hokies football players Detroit Lions players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Players of American football from Maryland